India, UK unveil 10-yr road map to elevate ties
Announce £1 bn worth of new investment
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Boris Johnson on Tuesday unveiled an ambitious 10-year road map to elevate the Indiauk bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership, paving the way for a stronger engagement in areas such as trade and economy, defence and security, and health.
Hours before the virtual summit, the UK prime minister announced a new India-uk trade investment worth £1 billion, including an investment of £240 million by Serum Institute of India for its vaccine business in Britain.
“The package contains over £533 million of new Indian investment into the UK, which is expected to create more than 6,000 jobs in vital and growing sectors such as health and technology. £200m of these deals will support low carbon growth,” the UK Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
Later, during the summit meeting, India and the UK inked nine pacts, including the launch
of an enhanced trade partnership (ETP), which would include negotiating a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) and an interim trade agreement for delivering early gains. Both nations will work towards a road map for concluding pre-fta discussions by year-end.
“By the middle of next year, both sides have agreed on an interim trade deal and to continue negotiations for an FTA,” Sandeep Chakravorty, joint secretary at the ministry of external affairs, told reporters.
“Confirm our intent to finalise the pre-negotiation scoping phase for a comprehensive free trade agreement by the end of 2021. This will resolve market access issues, boost exports and strengthen our trade partnership across a comprehensive range of areas. Both sides will undertake respective scoping, consultations and domestic processes, with consideration of the opportunity arising from an interim agreement, to achieve the early gains of the ETP,” the MEA said.
Both countries set an ambitious target of more than doubling the bilateral trade by 2030. As the UK tries to build a post-brexit trade relationship with the world, India till date is the largest market the UK has committed to negotiate a trade deal with.
“Our countries are already close partners and friends, and today’s announcement of a 10year roadmap working towards an FTA will take the bilateral relationship to the next level. In the immediate term, the focus will rightly be on removing market access barriers.